"It doesn't matter,
My fiancée will fight with me as well.
They stand no chance."
Vaan was confident, with Elara together with him in a team, he simply couldn't lose. After all, there is no way he would miss the chance to impress his fiancée, now would he?
Other Students, however, were worried about something else,
"Aren't we moving a little too fast? The Dawncrest House is quite strong, they have most of the Sword Division under them. Passively challenging them like this may not be a wise move, especially when we are in such a critical situation."
Vaelen spoke up.
He was not trying to demean Vaan or something like that, he was genuinely giving his opinion.
Yes, for once, he had decided to trust Vaan and become a team player and he did not want his team to lose because of careless planning.
Vaan, who sensed that Vaelen was actually trying to help seemed taken aback, however, as he recalled how his mother told him how all the members of the Vesta Family needed to act together to keep up the Family Image and face other opponents, he understood some bits of what Vaelen was thinking.
Vaelen was out of the Battle of Heirs, he had lost. As the 'leader', the responsibility of losing the Vesta House would be his and it will take away a major amount of support he had.
The chances of him recovering from this position were close to zero, truthfully, the consequences could be even worse than this.
Right now, however, he had one year, one year to prove his worth, not as the leader, but as a trusted aide of the new leader.
If Vaan did well and actually gets back the Vesta House they lost, which, considering all sorts of surprising things he had done before, had high chances of success, then as someone who helped him the most during the entire thing, he could save some of his face and still keep a decent amount of influence over other students and members of the Vesta Family.
At the same time, if the plan succeeds, his performance as the Academy's Professor would be extraordinary as well, giving him a bigger boost and earning him more respect and status in the Academy.
Vaelen's aim was clear, he was trying to put himself in a position where he was above everyone but Vaan.
Or at least that was what Vaan imagined and since he had no problem with his cousin acting like this, he decided to include him in his circle as well,
"We need to make our stance clear.
We are aiming for a fight between the Vestas and the Dawncrests."
"But wouldn't that alert them? They might raise their guard and not give us the chance the take away the Vesta House." Cedric spoke up.
"They cannot do that.
Once our intentions are clearly laid out, the Dawncrests backing up would mean that they are afraid to face us, they can't possibly let the message like that spread.
After all, the true value of the Vesta House they have is not how expensive it is, neither the Dawncrest nor the Vesta care about things like that,
The true value lies behind the status of superiority they now have over the strongest Magic Family in the world,
And if they show fear at such point, that status of superiority will vanish."
Vaan then glanced at other members of the family and with a confident look on his face, he spoke,
"Just leave the challenging part to me, I assure you that I will soon create a situation where we will receive a challenge with the Vesta House on the line from them,
You all just focus on winning.
Also,"
Suddenly, Vaan turned towards Vaelen and,
"Brother Vaelen, I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"I need you to write down about all the Vesta Students in the Academy, give me their levels and the field they exceed at. It would be great if you could rate the field you mentioned.
Elara, for example, is excellent at creating tactically advanced positions in a battle using her duel elements, I would rate her 5 out of 5 in that department, I want you to ask, find, test, and rate at least 3 individual fields the students of our family excel in and give the report to me,
It will be taxing, I know, but this is something we have to do. Otherwise, even if we do face the Dawncrests, things will only end up repeating itself,
If we are fighting them, we need to make sure we give our best.
I refuse the believe that the Vestas are so weak that we have no chance to win against the Dawncrests whatsoever."
Vaan spoke with a confident look on his face.
"We are not weak." Vaelen was quick to answer.
"The only reason they won was because most of the methods to compete give a slight advantage to the Swordsmen.
We did not lose a single challenge where the Mages had the advantage."
All the students here came from the Strongest Magic Family in the world, yes, this Generation of the Family was disappointing, it was the truth, however, this didn't mean they were weak to the point they could be bullied by others.
The 'weak' in Vesta's eyes were still genius level in the eyes of normal people.
The battle was not entirely one-sided.
"As I said, leave the challenges to me,
I will make sure that every battle our students fight gives them the advantage.
If you can give me what I asked for, that is."
Vaan spoke with a big smile on his face.
A determined look appeared on Vaelen's face and he nodded,
"I will do my best."
Vaan smiled.
He then turned towards Erza and,
"Professor Erza, I would be grateful if you could help Brother Vaelen in the process."
Erza stared at Vaan for a while and then, she nodded as well.
"I will help brother as well."
Suddenly, Lirael spoke up as well.
Then, she looked into Vaan's eyes, and,
"Unless you have something else I need to do."
It was her way of saying 'I am willing to help you as well.'
Vaan stared at her and, "You can help your brother until I have something that requires your skills."
"You can expect great results."
Lirael spoke with a confident look on his face.
"I already am."
Vaan smiled.
"Vaan."
Suddenly, Vaelen called out.
"Hmm?" Vaan tilted his head as he turned towards him.
"Will you be staying here with us?
I apologize for my mistake before, I should have sent someone to bring you people in, I didn't do it because of my pettiness and I am ashamed of my actions.
I truly believe you coming here would raise other students' morale."
Not just Vaelen, all other students were looking at Vaan with hopeful eyes as well. After all, what they were witnessing was too surprising for them to believe, the Prospective Heirs, who were always out for each other throats, were actually trying to work together for once. Vaan coming into the Vesta House would only improve the bonding and make things much more efficient than normal. However,
"I have young blood flowing through my veins you know? Let me enjoy my time here, will you?"
Vaan replied with a playful smile on his face.
"I can't believe it." Lirael snorted. "Although you did seem like one, I didn't think you truly are the perverted type."
"Hey, it's my fiancée, so I have a green card."
Vaan was quick to defend himself but suddenly,
*Buzz* *Buzz* *Buzz*
His SIC vibrated.
He took it out and started reading, soon, a frown appeared on his face.
"What happened?"
Vaelen questioned seeing how Vaan was frowning, as a show of trust, Vaan took this chance and decided to pass his SIC to Vaelen.
Vaelen was taken aback, however, understanding what Vaan was doing, he took the SIC and started reading, Lirael coming near him to read as well.
'Agresia Academy
2nd Novembrin 5039
Dear Vaan Astra Vesta,
It is with great pleasure that you are cordially invited to meet with Headmaster Octavius Ravenshadow at the main Head Office of the Agresia Academy. Your impressive achievements have not gone unnoticed, and the Headmaster is eager to have a conversation with you.
The Headmaster looks forward to meeting with you and discussing your academic journey and any other matters that may be of importance to you. Your presence is requested at the Head Office tomorrow at 10 A.M. Accommodations are made accordingly.
With warm regards,
Agresia Academy'
It was a letter,
An official invitation letter from the Academy.
"How is this possible…?"
Vaelen, who was done reading the letter frowned in confusion.
"What is it?" Unable to contain her curiosity, Erza questioned.
"An Invitation to Meet the Headmaster."
"Huh? But Vaan just entered the Academy, how can he already be eligible to meet the Headmaster?" Erza and others frowned.
"Eligible?" Vaan was taken aback.
"Right, you won't know…" n/-O1n
Vaelen forgot that Vaan hadn't even gone through the induction the new students were supposed to attend a week after joining the Academy.
"You can only meet the Headmaster when you upgrade your Card to the next level after collecting 5 Excellence Stars."
Vaelen explained and hearing those words, Vaan frowned.
"But I do not have…"
Before he could complete, his card that was in Vaelen's hand shined,
It turned Silvery White.
